


Our deeds marks our lives

by Rogercat



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Norse Religion & Lore, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Norse Religion & Lore, Arranged Marriage, Childbirth, Culture, Dark Magic, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Forests, Gift Giving, Imperial City, Magic, Maids, Music, Older Woman/Younger Man, Poor Life Choices, Poverty, Royalty, Sexual Content, Siblings, Spring, Summer, Teacher-Student Relationship, Trolls, Winter, betrothal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-09 13:51:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: My littl retelling of various fairy tales and what theme is common there





	1. A good deed pays off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nuredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuredhel/gifts).



> This one is pretty classic, about why it is so important with protection in love-making

**_A good deed pays off_ **

 

Being a maid who worked on a farm was hard work, from early morning to late night. But Emma knew that she had to earn money so that her family, parents in their older years and her six surviving siblings who all was younger than herself, would not starve if there was a bad harvest this year.           

 

“And I need to find a husband, as well.” 

 

Emma was nineteen years old, and had worked away from home since she was twelve years old. Her family lived in the neighboring village, but she had taken work in the farms higher up in the valley, closer to where the woods was, because workforce was always needed on bigger farms. 

 

“Emma! Hurry up, we need to go with the cows now!” Ingrid, the youngest daughter of the farm owner, called to her. They would be away during the two coming summer months and drive around some of the cows and their calves to new pastures in the mountains. Why Ingrid had wanted to do so when she did not need to work thanks to all the maids working on the farm and in the house, Emma did not know, but the young miss had been in a bitter argument with her father some days earlier about a young man she fancied, so perhaps she wanted to be away until that things had cooled down between them? 

  
  


As they walked up to the small cottage where they would live for the next two summer months, they talked about various small talk. 

 

“I would rather prefer to stay at the main farm so I could go to the dances on Saturdays! Imagine all the men that we will miss to meet! But noo, Father is stupid, talking about that I will dishonor myself if I am seen with a man who I am not betrothed with!”

 

Oh great, Ingrid was talking about her ambitions for marriage again, or at least grander marriage plans that would ensure that she could move away from home. Emma kept quiet, but she knew that Ingrid desired to marry a wealthy husband and not one of the local farmers where everyone knew each other already in one way or another. Preferably someone down from the big village, or even the distant city several day trips away. Handsome, as well. 

 

“I do not know about a city man...perhaps you could aim for a merchant or one of the sons who will inherit the big farms around?”

 

“They are all slow-minded and not interesting at all! They talk of pretty women, but none of them can be like me! I am the fairest one around, and the richest now when both my elder sisters are married!” Ingrid boasted in pride, making her long hair flow around.   

 

Emma knew better than argument against that. It was no secret that she was not the prettiest woman around, she was rather thin in body shape from a hard life filled with work from her youngest years and it had not always been enough food to be free from hunger at night when they went to bed. Two older brothers and one sister had been lost at a young age in a horrible famine just the very year before she had entered the world, her elderly grandmother claiming that Emma was a bringer of hope to her family since her birth had fallen together with a autumn rich in harvest from the fields and almost overwhelming amount of berries, fruits and mushrooms from the woods so no one would die in the family from lack of food again. Her brown hair and grey eyes was agreed to be her finest features, even if the face was hopelessly thin because there had been a few bad harvests in her younger childhood. 

 

But Ingrid, oh she was a fair maid indeed! Long golden hair down to the hips, a well-formed body, and pretty blue eyes like the summer sky. If that, along with a good dowry, would not attract suitors, Emma did not know how the world worked.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

A few weeks passed. Emma preferred to stay at the cottage, so she could core butter and make cheese from the milk, while Ingrid was out with the cows to ensure that they did not get lost. In all honesty, so were Emma actually somewhat scared of the woods, the overnatural beings who lived there. Her grandmother could recall a lot of ancient stories where people had vanished in the woods, taken by the trolls and never seen again unless they returned several years later, changed forever.   

 

“They are more rarely seen now, but I have seen them myself a few times…”

 

She could recall a young man she once had spotted between the trees, dressed in light green clothes so he almost joined with the summer colours in the forest, his hair so fair that it nearly had been white-blonde, the same colour as the tip of the tail she had spotted, but the distance had been too much for her to see the colour of his eyes. Overnatural beautiful, so fair yet he still looked masculine with that long hair, gold earrings in his ears and arm rings in what must be a really ancient style. While not in love, Emma still liked to have him as a inspiration for the things which was beautiful in life, for trolls could be helpful as well. Her father had once told of a troll maiden who had been kind enough to help him find enough berries in the woods as a child, in exchange for some bottles of beer from his family, because she was going to a wedding a few days later and had not found anything to bring with her as a gift to the bride and groom. 

  
  


Suddenly, she heard someone from the outside, and banging on the door in a almost desperate manner. 

 

“I am coming, I am coming!”

 

Was it Ingrid who had returned early? Had something happened to the cows out in the forest? Or worse, the heifer calves which was so important as future milk cows? Bull calves was less important, unless they was planned to be breeding bulls or as oxen to become draught animals. 

 

“Oh…!” 

 

It was the male troll from two summers ago. He was just as stunning like then, except for that he now was seriously worried. And who would not, at seeing the red-haired female troll beside him for support covered by a large cloak, her belly swollen with child to the point that she had to be close to her due date. 

 

“Please, help my sister! We will not be able to return to the mountain before the sun is up..!” 

 

A ray of sun on his hand confirmed Emma worries, seeing the skin change into stone. If trolls were out in the sun for too long, they turned into stone until sunset. Having to suffer through labour pains in a such state….no.

 

“Get inside, both of you, before the sun raiser higher!” 

 

Thankfully, Emma was no stranger to the mysteries of childbirth even if she still was a maiden. Her mother had been pregnant basically almost every second year, and had birthed ten children in total because there was always the risk of some of the children not surviving to adulthood for whatever reason. 

 

“We will be needing warm water, can you relight the fire in the fireplace? I will get water from the well.”

 

The brother proved himself able to do the tasks Emma gave him, since he was so unsure about what was best in how to help his sister. Not that she really blamed him, childbirth was viewed as a female-only area in life and in this remote part of the country, it was not unheard of that male doctors could get kicked out from the birth room by the local midwives who often were more familiar to the mothers.  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Meanwhile, as Emma did her best to help in the unexpected birth, Ingrid was not really doing what she was supposed to do. Once she was far enough from the cottage, she let the cows and calves walk as they wanted while she remained in a comfortable glade close to a smaller river, which was not the way of keeping a eye on the cattle. 

 

No, currently she was enjoying herself in a very unchaste manner with a lover, who had followed after her and Emma up though the woods on a safe distance. Really, it had been almost laughable easy to sneak away, fooling her father with pretending that she was angry and ignoring him out of hurt feelings. And Emma, that uneducated silly goose, was even easier to fool since she was from a such poor family that she had to work to earn her food away from home! 

 

Ingrid was the apple of her old father's eye, the youngest of three surviving sisters, and blessed to become the prettiest as she had grown up. With her mother who had died in childbirth fourteen years ago from trying to bring out yet another lifeless child into the world, there was no other close relative to stop him from spoiling Ingrid as she grew up. Her two sisters, plain in appearance and more than ten years older than her because the age gap otherwise would have been filled with three other siblings that never had drawn breath at birth, had quietly been married off with suitable husbands once they were old enough and had not lived at home for at least ten years. And with few other close female relatives to keep a eye on her, Ingrid had grown to have a dangerous habit; 

 

She loved men since she first had started to be given a very different kind of attention due to her changing body, and especially what everyone insisted on what was forbidden for unmarried maidens to do unless they had something ready to ensure that it would not be any consequences. 

 

But Ingrid was not someone who really thought of the very possible risk that she might be knocked up and bring disgrace to her family by carrying a illegitimate child. She knew that one of the local girls had gotten caught up in a such scandal only a few months earlier in spring to the point that she had needed to move to the big city where no one would know her, yet since that event had not really been talked about at her home because the maids feared the displeasure of her father if he heard them talk about it, Ingrid had not linked childbirth to what she currently was doing with her secret lover. 

 

Suddenly, there was a movement in the bushes and a tiny, dirty child face peeked out.

 

“Get lost, brat!” 

 

Naturally, Ingrid and her lover was both very displeased over to have been interrupted in their fun, and he threw a wooden shoe after the child. When it ran out from the bushes to not get hit in the face, a small tail revealed itself under the dress. 

 

“A troll!?” 

 

Ingrid had heard horror stories of how fair maidens would be stolen by trolls, especially those with golden hair because it was so alike real gold in colour, and she had no wish to end up being a prisoner of the trolls inside the mountain, because that would mean that her comfortable life would come to a end. 

 

“In the name of the Holy Father…”

 

Speaking the name of God made the small troll run away between the trees with a shriek of pain, tiny hands over the ears while trying to avoid the sunlight on the ground here and there.  

 

“Damn, this killed the enjoyment…” 

 

But Ingrid had no plans to let the fun stop right now, because of that someone had seen them. She was still itching for the pleasure she would feel when he took her deeply.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

“Well, this went better than what I first worried about. I have seen mother give birth, but I have mostly helped the animals in the stable about this,” Emma admitted with a look on the new troll mother and her little baby where they laid comfortable in a nest of old clothes which would be washed and made into a rag mat on the loom later anyway, the brother helping her in washing off the bed blankets and linens so there would be no evidence of that a birth had taken place here in the cottage during the day. 

Still, it had all gone well, both mother and child surviving, despite the lack of a proper midwife.  

 

“This good deed shall be repaid well, we promise that.”

 

Emma understood what they meant. Good deeds was always repaid, that was one of the rules among the trolls, for if you were not repaid as you was meant to be, then a lot of trouble would happen. Her grandmother could tell of more than one case where a selfish person was later given a reward that would end up ruining their life. 

 

Female trolls clearly had a different stamina than humans, a little more like animals, because the sister was already back up on her feet. Then again, they also needed to return home to the mountain before Ingrid came back, Emma knew that the young miss loved gossip and scandal without thinking of how it might affect those who was the unfortunate targets. Witch hunting may be a thing of the past, but female reputation was still so easy to destroy, like a egg dropped to the ground by mistake. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

True enough, Ingrid arrived back not long after that the troll siblings had left the cottage. And much to Emma's internal frustration, she could not recall where the cows and calves had gone. 

 

“You are hopeless on this because you have not done this before, and it is not something to do alone!” Emma cried in despair, already imaging what could happen to the cattle in the middle of night, Ingrid not helping the situation with her self-satisfied smile. 

 

“What? It is not like that there is any wolves around here nowadays, they was hunted down already a hundred years ago…”

 

“It is other kinds of dangers that can happen,  _ stupid wench!! _ Do you even know how much a single cow costs to buy in order to replace one since a heifer is around two years old at having the first calf! Your father would lose a lot of money if he need to first buy new cows at the market and then breed them to the local bulls to get new calves the following! Money that likely would be part of your dowry!” Emma snapped in anger, leaving a shocked Ingrid behind as she hurried out though the door to search for the missing cattle.  

 

“If I loses my work as a maid because of that idiotic fool, my family will starve during winter if there is a bad harvest! They need the money I earn because we are so poor! Mother is too worn out to birth another sibling, and father suffer from pain in the joints from all the hard work on our little farm...grandmother is so old that she soon will join grandfather in heaven...my oldest brother is only fifteen, and my other siblings are below his age!” 

 

No, Emma needed to find the cattle and fix this mess Ingrid had started. For her parents and siblings, so they would survive for another year. She hated the very idea of the family losing their younger family members to death because they had no food to give them.  

 

It was a long night for Emma as she searched for the cows and calves. Sometimes in the moonlight, she could have sworn on the Holy Father that she did see other people in the shadows, hiding between the trees and bushes to not be seen. The overnatural beings of the forest. 

 

By dawn, Emma finally returned to the cottage, exhausted in both body and mind due to lack of sleep, the last missing calf being made to follow by using her apron as rope around the neck. 

 

“I am taking service on another farm close to my home, when the hiring fair comes in October!”

 

She had enough of Ingrid causing trouble for others and getting away with it because of how protective her father was of her. One day, she would not be able to escape from her part of the responsibility, that was for sure.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Half a year later, at Christmas time, Emma had been allowed by her new employer to spend a few days of the holiday with her family since they lived just in the opposite end of the village. 

 

“Emma, dearie, surely you must have noted that the owner to the Forest farm did not have his daughter along at his side at the Christmas Mass in the church? Well, there is a reason to why he did not want to be seen with her...it seems that she have gotten herself in big trouble, since she have a bun in the oven!” her mother spoke in a way which revealed her glee over that the haughty owner of that farm could no longer brag about his youngest daughter anymore. 

 

“Oh? Is there any words about how far she is?” 

 

Emma had a rough guess, recalling that day when the troll infant had been born and Ingrid being so inattentive about her duty to keep watch that she lost the cattle all together.  

 

“One of the other maids who also changed workplace like you, said that she must have been knocked up during the summer. Explains why she insisted on coming with you up in the woods, naughty girl.” 

 

Emma was not surprised to hear that Ingrid had shocked her father greatly by going behind his back and meet with a lover. She had been lucky to not being sent to the poorhouse in disgrace after being disowned due to said pregnancy, which now made her a social outcast without the protection of her father as before. Now Ingrid had to learn the actual manner of working for her daily bread, and pray for that she would find some kin stranger who was willing to accept that she would bring in a unplanned child into the marriage. 

 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Guests this late in the day? One of Emma brothers opened, but there was no one outside, apart from tracks for skis in the snow and a very huge package of burlap laying in the path father and sons had dug up from the cottage door to easier walk to the small stable where the goats and hens lived. 

 

“What is this?” 

 

The whole family helped to opened the package on one of the beds.

 

“Oh!”

 

It was a bunad in black and red fabric with real gold thread and stunning embroidery to look like flowers as decoration, a folk costume Emma had longed to wear at her wedding but knew that her family was too poor to afford. 

 

“Look, there is even money of real gold for her to bring into the marriage as dowry!” 

 

“It is well enough for all four sisters, silly boy. Look at the amount. We can even buy one of the farms that was emptied of people when they moved to America this summer. We can finally afford a better home.”

 

Emma understood the meaning. The trolls must have been the ones to give her this for helping with the birth earlier in summer. Had they understood the family situation, how worried everyone was about her dowry and the fear of that they would be forced to give up their little farm if they could not pay the taxes. To end up in the poorhouse was the worst fate of them all, especially with how old grandmother was and her parents so worn out from working all their lives.

 

“Grandmother, can we ask the priest if I might marry in the old church further up in the woods? The one which the priest laments to be neglected because it is surrounded by the abandoned old village, and people rarely visits it thanks to the newer church which was built a hundred years ago?” 

 

Her grandmother smiled. 

 

“Oh, I am sure that the priest will be delighted to hear that you want to marry up there. His family was one of the last families to move away from that village because it became impossible to live there with no close neighbors to help during the harvest.” 

Emma thought of the local priest. Some of the elders claimed that he was a bit odd for his position, not as strict as his precursor about mortals and dressed in a very old-fashioned way with his clothes of a long robe that would not have been out of place on a monk in a convent some hundred years ago, yet he had been very disappointed when Ingrid had not managed to hid her pregnancy anymore from the view of others. 

 

“Ingrid should be grateful for that she was not shamed in front of everyone in the church…” 

 

Then Emma suddenly stopped in folding the bunad, thinking back. Was there not a rumour of that the priest actually was a changeling, a troll who had been switched in the crib by its mother for the human child before it was baptized? No, that was just silly. People loved to gossip about his odd manner of clothing and why he acted like he did. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

 

In all fairness, Emma's guess was not all wrong. The priest was indeed a changeling who had been switched with a sicky human baby that would not have lived long after birth, and it had also been done to ensure that the trolls could easier follow the changes of the human world. Right now he was meeting with his troll relatives for a real midwinter feast, like how it had been done in the Viking Age so long ago. 

 

“The selfish girl harvests what she sowed this passing summer. With a child in her belly, she will need to rethink her actions and not to take things for granted anymore as in the past. For the young lady who offered shelter from the sun and helping with the birth...she shall be blessed with a good life, for a good deed pays off.” 

 

His tail moved freely under the robes he wore to hide his origins, as he spoke the fate of the two young women who had been in the woods that summer.    


	2. The harp sings tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A twin birth changes a lot of things, for the boys that is born

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> basically a Reality-hit on the classic of a "hidden prince/real royality among commoners"

**_The harp sings in the night_ **

 

The forty five-year-old Empress Na-Hina of the Silan Empire was waiting in a private chamber. Not for her beloved husband, who had died only half a year earlier. Not for any of their shared children, who was busy with the tasks she had requested of them this evening. No, it was a trusted servant she was expecting to arrive any moment now.  

 

“Your Imperial Majesty. Doctor Shen is here now,” a serving mad announced with a bow, allowing her mistress to know of the arrival yet still enjoy the tea in her hand.  

 

The sight which greeted her, was a bit alarming. Like the black eye he had when straightening up from the deep bow.

 

“That black eye better not be caused by that barbarian widowed Queen whose childbirth I tasked you to oversee.” 

 

The Empress was referring to the widowed Queen Laia of the Nara Kingdom, who had become the last gift from her late husband in the form of a brutal conquest and deliver of its Queen to the Imperial court as a hostage, since that kingdom had long been a horn in the side to the empire over the last centuries. A kingdom ruled by Kings who was not known for being wise, insisting on foolish wars that often ended up with them on the losing side. In fact, its last King had handled it over to her husband on his deathbed just to not have to see his kingdom be burned down, a act which many nobles had viewed as weak. 

 

“The poor King was haunted by ill health from birth, and died before he even had turned twenty-five. He also had the rotten luck of being married off to that haughty she-devil who got knocked up just before his death…” 

 

Honestly, the Empress did not fault the deceased King for dying, if it so was to get away from his horrible wife. Laia had been a horrible ward to care for, insulting everything and everyone around her, complaining about how much she hated to be pregnant when she actually carried a possible heir in her womb. 

“My greatest, noblest mistress, please forgive this unworthy servant of my failure....Laia used her personal maid to do a much awful crime against your kindness of keeping her here in the court. Her son had just been delivered out in the world, when someone stroke me from behind. It was by pure luck that I was not passed out or killed, yet I was still able to hear the footsteps of men entering the birthing chamber and Laia ordering them to take her son and escape…”

 

The Empress did not need to ask what had happened, the baby had been spirited away by nobles who still wanted their Kingdom to be independent again, led by its own King. She clicked with her hands on the armrest of her chair without a word. 

 

“She intends to have her son be raised among trusted people and then have him try to reclaim the crown his father gave up to spare his Kingdom from ruin?” 

 

“I fear so, Your Majesty. Yet the Gods have already acted, and I managed to witness it myself.”

 

A common household maid came forwards with a burdle in her arms. A weak crying was heard from it. 

 

“Oh? I guess that she was not planning for twins?” the Empress smiled, taking the baby in her lap for a better look. A boy, but pale in almost unhealthy manner and there was a struggle in the breathing, revealing that this younger twin had been unlucky enough to inherit the weak physical state of his late father.  

 

“I pretended to awake just as she was taken by surprise from the labour pains starting again, mistress. She was not kind or gentle, I fear, cursing this unexpected son as she struggled to bring him out. Twins are not well viewed in Nara, I fear, the younger one often seen as a cursed person and often killed at birth. And...she had lost too much blood in the out-drawn birth.”

 

Well, that was one trouble less to deal with, with Queen Laia dead in the birthing bed. On the other hand, it had been replaced by a new and possible more dangerous problem in the long run. 

“Did she name her oldest son before he was stolen away on her orders?”

 

“Perian, after the Perian the Great two hundred years ago.”

 

The Empress groaned. Perian II had been one of the most troublesome Kings of Nara from the view of her ancestors, a King who lived for war and never knew when to stop. Originally a younger prince low in the succession to the crown of Nara, he had removed all his surviving brothers in a wave of murders to be able to get the throne of his late father. 

 

“So she intended for her son to be a conqueror by taking back his crown by force, huh? Well, that plan will not work, we have this little fellow to pose as the official heir to Nara and my newest ward. By that, we can make little Perian seem like a pretender brought up on false beliefs of nobles desperate to reclaim their old titles and social positions. Now, what to call you, sweetie?”

 

The baby wailed weakly in her lap, looking at her with the classical blue eyes of the western countries. 

 

“Ah yes, I know the perfect name. **_Helisa,_ ** after several of my own imperial ancestors. Like Emperor Helisa I, who became known as the Lawgiver for his changes of old laws and creation of new ones. Helisa II, called the Sea-Lord since he conquered several of our trading ports. And finally my own father Helisa III, the Peace-maker thanks to starting the tradition of keeping the royal wives and children of conquered kingdoms as hostages here at the court. I do not expect you to be a puppet King under my hand, but even if you dies young because you are not that strong, you will be a perfect way to make your older twin brother unable to claim that he is the rightful heir to Nara…”  

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

_ 18 years later _

 

Helisa was anxious, where he had seated himself at the window to look over the front yard, just watching the servants and common people come and leave. Things had been tense the past few days in the imperial court, for many different reasons. Like that seven of his fellow imperial wards, those who once had been the royal families of conquered kingdoms yet now lived as hostages in the imperial court to ensure that the kingdoms would not cause trouble, had been found guilty of attempting to escape from the palace and return to their former homelands as rulers in their own right. As always, the imperial punishments was done fast when a crime has been revealed. 

 

“They really should have thought of the risks of being found out, and is very lucky to still be alive. Now they have to live the rest of their lives confined to a single room, living only for prayers and the spirituality of life…”   

 

Of course, this had ruined some of the plans Empress Na-Hina had for those wards, like carefully choosing who they might marry if they kept behaving well. Marriage was like a prize, especially when they could end up in a situation where they was the last of their dynasties.

 

Sighing, Helisa began to play on his harp again. His physical health had improved a lot from his earliest years of life thanks to the skilled court doctors, but he was still frail and unlikely to ever become a warrior. Instead, he had gotten a education that focused on his intelligence since a good mind and common sense worked better for him if his body did not. As he slowly had started to mature into his adolescence, one of his newer teachers even had been a popular male courtesan at the imperial court. Why? Because the Empress wanted him to have skills that could give him another position than just as a ward while looking for a possible wife for him and to draw attention to the fact that the young King of Nara was still alive. Now he was enough skilled to hold a official position of a harp player. 

 

“At least the Empress was kind enough to choose someone I am somewhat familiar with, and not a too big age difference…” 

 

At his coming-of-age ceremony two years ago, he had been promised in marriage to one of the female generals of the Silan Empire, the now twenty-three year old Shan Sera, who were a close friend to the newly crowned Emperor Girion after that Empress Na-Hina had chosen to step down from her position as leader, but she still served as a advisor for her son. Female generals was not unheard of in the Silan Empire, rather it was a way for women to find a career which would make them useful if they had a personality which was more for the outdoor life. 

 

“And here is my favorite harp player!”

 

A voice behind him, one he had not heard in over a year. Turning around, Helisa saw that it indeed was Sera standing in the door to the chamber, still wearing her travel clothes with several smaller daggers in the belt and loosening her black hair from the braid she had set it up into. 

 

“Sera! You are back from that mission you were given?” Helisa said in surprise at seeing her, moving up so he could stand facing her. He had worn the outer court robe as protection against the spring weather, which could still be somewhat cold before sommer arrived, and thus was dressed in only a lighter blue robe which brought out his reddish-blonde hair which hung along his back.  

 

“The one about finding your twin and bring him back to court so he can be revealed as a impostor to your crown, yes. One of the few times I think there was a very good reason to storm inside a mansion and interrupt a wedding, they were trying to marry him to a young maiden whose father is a distant relative to you. I admit that as the elder twin, he is the rightful king but given what happened at your birth…”

 

Helisa nodded in unease, covering himself with the court robe again so he would feel warmer. Ever since he had been old enough to understand the deeper details, he had known about Perin being taken away at birth and that he had been brought up by nobles from Nara that refused to accept their homeland being part of a larger empire. It also distressed him a lot to know that his late father was viewed as a weak ruler by those same nobles in exile, all because of a frail health and trying to spare his kingdom from a worse fate at his deathbed.

 

“My late mother really could not let go of the idea of being the wife and mother to a King, even after that she became a ward of the Empress and was given all the finest care a pregnant woman could ask for...and look, here I was the one who was crowned soon after birth as the new King, simply because I was born after that my brother had been smuggled out…”  

 

That was the key in the former Empress' plan to make it seem like Helisa had been the only child born that night, that Perin had been taken away without any of their shared mother's jewelry or other items as proof of his identity. The tiny yet so disastrous mistake his guardians had done. 

 

“They shall be presented to the Emperor and the former Empress in prison later today. I must say, that Perin is not what I would call a ideal ruler when it comes to personality; he have grown obsessed with claiming what he feel is his birthright. Entitled and foolish, especially when comparing him with you and the way you show humility and gratitude for the Imperial family. A sheltered brat with no real idea of society and politics.”

 

Sera did not blame Helisa for the face-palm he did at hearing that. He knew that had he been born in the Nara Kingdom rather than the Imperial court, he would not have lived past his first breath of life because of the views against the younger half of twins. He owned his life to the retired Empress, and his current position in life as King.  

 

“Life is not like in the fairy tales. A so called “Hidden royal prince among commoners” is not very likely to actually be taken seriously by those in power, especially not when he could pose a threat to them. Yes, in his view on things I may the false King because the nobles never noticed that mother was carrying twins, but I am the one the people of Nara is familiar with, even if I lives here at the Imperial court as a ward since birth. Besides, have not the older nobles from Nara said that I look like my late father in his portrait?”

 

Sera nodded in agreement. That was another trumpf card for her future husband in the political game of who the real King of Nara was, that his not so robust health and similarity in appearance reminded very much about the late King Leo of Nara, who had died just half a year before the birth of his twin sons. Perin had similar hair colour and looked more like their more war-like ancestors, yes, but a life in exile from birth and not having any of the training Helisa had at dealing with the political games at court, would be a massive handicap and would leave him to be easily manipulated.

 

A servant arrived, telling them that the Emperor requested them both in the throne room.

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Helisa had grown up with viewing Girion as a older brother, and knew that familiar to be one of the reasons to why he never had needed to fear for his life. The whole Imperial family had a lot to win if he remained alive, after all. And he had enough health trouble to entrust them to deal with Nara in the bigger image, with him as a figure head even if some might call him as puppet king in their hands. That how things was. 

 

“Helisa. As Sera must have told you, she have brought Perin back to the capital and he is under arrest. Is there anything you would want to do about this?” 

 

Helisa shook on his head.  

 

“I do not want to meet him. As long as he is alive, he is a threat to both my crown and my own life. I want him executed as a imposter, a random youth with roughly the right age and appearance which those nobles brought up to make a coup d'etat, all to gain their old titles and power from the time of my father. Call me cruel if you want, but it would be a political chaos in Nara if it is revealed that he is the older twin, someone who could claim the crown from me simply on the basics that he is the firstborn. I do not want to go down in history as a pretender, set up by your lady mother for power.”

 

Girion nodded in understanding. Helisa was the first younger twin in the royal history of Nara to survive past birth and take the throne by a few strikes of pure luck. Officially, he was the only child born between the late king Leo and Queen Laia, because his sickly father had not managed to father any heirs prior to the twin birth.  

 

“Then he and the five nobles shall be gone in the morning at dawn. There is always secret assassins to get rid of them in a way that could be proven as an accident without getting blood on the hands of the one who gave the order.”

 

Helisa bowed his head as silent signal on that he accepted it. For him, Perin was not a sibling he had any feelings for, but someone who threatened his very existence by being born first.

 

“As for the maiden who he was about to marry when Sera arrived at the middle of the wedding….have her father executed for his part in the plot, and the girl locked up in a house for the holy sisters for next five years, just to ensure that my brother might not have managed to sire a heir on her when Sera looked away for a moment.”

 

It was not that he doubted Sera's capability of keeping the two youngsters apart, Helisa simply did not want to be haunted by future pretenders to his crown in the shape of possible nephews or nieces. Yes, he was basically a puppet king for the Empire to control Nara, but as a crowned King he was also a safe card when it came to any future heirs. 

 

“That shall be arranged as well. Then there is the date of your wedding, which I intend to happen in a week from now,” Girion said, having checked with his advisors after a successful date for their wedding because normally Helisa would have married soon after coming of age, but then he had been struck with a longer period of illness again and needed several months to fully recover, while they also wanted Sera to find Perian and bring him back in chains. 

 

The soon-to-be married couple bowed, as the Emperor allowed them to leave. 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

Rather than going their separate ways, Sera and Helisa chose to return to his private chambers, sharing a early dinner together to try and make up for the time lost over the past seventeen months. 

 

“Are you really alright with the fact that I might have similar troubles as my father in siring children? I mean, he was married to my mother for ten years and it was only during the last three years that they finally started to show signs of becoming parents, twice which ended in miscarriages before I was born...” Helisa wondered as he broke apart a piece of bread to drop in his soup. Sera knew at once what he tried to explain, she had asked the court doctors about that little detail about Helisa when she had learned that he was to be her future husband as reward for many victories she had won for the Empire. 

 

“I think one of the reasons was that either your father was a late bloomer, or simply was yet another victim for the stupid expectations that only he was in bed with a woman, he would know what was needed to be done to beget an heir. I have seen other young noblemen and their sisters not being given a little more details on that and believe me when I say that is only part of why it might take some time before any grandchildren pops out, simply because their parents fail to explain it.”  

 

At least Helisa had learned that he should be fine about the arts of pleasure in the bed once the signs of him changing from boy into a man had started, he simply had been unlucky to be a late bloomer then around the same age as his friends at court because of his health. He had been a sicky boy and would, without doubt, remain frail as a adult man, but there was still hope that he would live longer than his father thanks to the skills of the court doctors. Perhaps only one or two decades, expecting Helisa to live past the age of forty was likely a bit too much of the poor court doctors to ensure that would happen. 

 

“Besides, it is not like I am a virgin. Widowed the very morning after the wedding because of my first husband was a little bit too much delighted about beverages, remember?”  

 

Helisa recalled that story, about how the then seventeen-year-old Sera had heard her husband falling down the stairs and how that had ended with him breaking his neck when he had wanted a new bottle of wine after consummating the wedding night. She had not been pregnant from that single night of marriage, but her monthly visitor was visiting at a steady pattern so she should be fertile if they just tried things out. Besides, that marriage had been part of her raise through the military ranks; if a general or similar army commander were married, it was believed that the soldiers would recall their own families and what they fought to protect against dangers. 

 

“Helisa? Would you play the harp for me? It is so long since I last heard some acceptable music and you would be so sad if you ever heard someone trying to play on a harp of very bad materials…and can not even sing, for that matter.” 

 

Well, that was simple request that Helisa could do for her. Besides, they needed to get used to each other so why not? Harp playing was one of the things had enjoyed from childhood, and Sera even had said something about relaxing music for the mind. Perhaps he could even use that training in secret seduction his male courtesan teacher had taught him, “ _ to give your future wife pleasure with the eyes _ ” as it had been called.

 

As he started to play a popular song at the court, Sera simply looked at him in silence. She had not expected the honor of getting one of the former Empress' royal wards as a husband, but understood the logic; Helisa might be loyal to the Empire, but marrying a lady from his own native Nara kingdom as his queen would become a serious risk of him being used by his homeland as a figure head for a rebellion. Even if Sera would not be crowned as a Queen consort of Nara, her being a general would ensure that Helisa would be protected by a war-trained wife if it was needed against people who wanted to either harm or even kill him. 

 

“I may be older than you and facing death in battle at some point, but I do not intend to leave this world without a living child to carry on my blood to the following generations.”

 

Now Helisa stopped playing the harp for a moment, a smile hinted at his lips as he looked on her.

 

“And I can not ask for a better wife, then, to give my life and body in _ desire _ for protection.”

 

He put some extra weight on one noticeable word, purposely baring his neck for her to see by lifting up his hands as if he would set up his hair in a ponytail like her own. Sera licked her lips in response. Helisa had been taught well to be a desirable man despite his youth and weak health, and he was wanted as a husband for more than just his position as King. 

 

“We would not be the first couple who might marry with our firstborn as a possible secret wedding quest, if you manages to be fertile at a earlier age than your father.” 

 

Helisa smiled a true smile of seduction, opening the belt on his inner robe as he rose from the stool he had been seated on for playing the harp, backing until that he hit his bed and landed softly on the many bed covers to make it as soft as possible if he was being ill.

 

“Shall we test that theory, then? It is not like we would break against anything in the marriage contact Empress Na-Hina drew up for us at the betrothal, just tasting the  **_wedding dessert_ ** before the main meal, you can say.”  

 

Some might have called her smile in that moment a feral one, yet Helisa was not afraid of Sera. Domestic violence was very legal reason for divorce in the Silan Empire, both men and women among all the social classes could use it if they was mistreated by a spouse and those who tried to use divorce to shame a spouse like after breaking their wedding vows by cheating and wanting to replace the legal spouse with a lover, would get into serious social trouble with local authorities. 

 

“Just a fair warning, sweet singer of mine, I prefer to  _ ride _ my males, both my stallion and those who I have shared a bed with before.” 

Helisa, who had heard about that position between two lovers and learned about it in books which told more details about love-making, simply nodded as agreement to that she was allowed to do so. 

 

“Then make me sing once more for you when you rides me, my warrior queen.”

 

This was going to be a very hot night, for sure, for all of that it still was early spring. 


	3. The charm of princes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What really happens to the "middle princes" in stories, that is neither the youngest or the spare?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> basically a twist on the theme of wicked characters

Everyone knew the rules of royalty across the kingdom. Fair princesses, who often could meet their future husbands by being saved from dangers. The oldest son was the heir, the second son the spare to the throne, and the youngest son would often leave for just that kind of adventure that meant saving a princess and asking her grateful parents for their daughter's hand in marriage.... 

 

“And of course no one remember the middle prince in the large number of siblings, who never gets mentioned unless he is the spare!” Atar, the fourth son of one such kingdom, commented aloud from the couch, sending the offening book across the room with some magic. 

 

“Did your parents send you a another useless book for what to do since you are neither heir or spare to the throne after your brothers? Surely they should have gotten into their heads by now that you were  **_blessed_ ** and not cursed, with the ability to use magic at your christening,” a female voice called from the other room.  

 

Knowing that complaining would not help, Atar used some magic to clean up the dust while he picked up the books he had been reading that afternoon. Despite what his parents seemed to believe because of how magic normally worked, he was far more happy to be away from their narrow-minded view on the world and how it worked. At the age of nineteen years of age, it would only be half a year left before Atar had finished his training in magic and would become the youngest known sorcerer of this century. 

 

The main problem? His teacher was a Wicked fairy, as her kin was called, and had been most delighted to have a student to teach because Atar showed s better promise for dark magic rather than light. Unlike what one might think, she had neither kidnapped him or seduced him with promises of power, no she simply had offered him a written contract with clear rules, which he had signed as proof of them becoming teacher and student. Besides, she found most younger men in his age to be boring and ignorant who could not give a woman proper respect, not even in the face of danger of being enchanted as punishment for a very rude word about her age or profession. Atar had even witnessed his two brothers facing that kind of magic, when his teacher had arrived to the castle to bring him along to her home in the Forbidden Mountains. Really, it had been one of his finest moments in life, to see them transformed into helpless ragdolls for his much delighted younger sisters to play with until that his studies in the dark arts was done. They would be kept alive by magic with no need for food or other body needs outside sleeping, which was a far cry from what the court mage could do.   

 

“As if anyone of the pathetic teachers in magic back home could make me use light magic without hurting myself as a result of using the wrong kind of magic for my body….”

 

And his parents still thought that the many scars on his body was the proof of a curse? 

 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

 

When Atar entered the other room where a crystal ball was placed on a central table, his teacher turned around to face him. She looked like any other middle-aged woman, closer to fifty than forty, had it not been for her aura which often sent people screaming in terror. But Atar was used to it after three years of studies. In fact he was not even scared anymore when she was in a really foul mood and transformed into a monster as a sign of her anger.  

 

“The lesson today is plain and simple scrying to further lands far away. I believe there is two persons who awaits your help once you are finished with your lessons.”

 

“None of those dragon-slaying princes, I hope, you have said that dragons are starting to become endangered because of that stupid tradition. I mean, exactly how do knights and princes expect to slay a  _ fire-breathing _ magical beast that often is far bigger in size and have wings? It is a death invitation to be roasted alive and give the captive princess guilt over being the reason to his death.” 

 

She laughed at his words. 

 

“Oh, I knew that one of your strengths was a common sense and logic, dear student. Had the age gap between us been smaller, I would gladly have taken you as my spouse. Imagine all the dark magic we would have been able to do!” 

 

Atar smiled in pretended shyness with his eyes lowered, his long red hair falling around his face. 

 

“Oh, teacher, you charm other men better than me, because my heart is already captured by another lady who should not be a rival in the traditional manner.” 

 

The crystal ball started to shine as they talked, first showing a image of his younger sister keeping themselves busy with playing house in their playroom, his still ragdolled brothers having to suffer through a tea party, a far cry from how Atar had enjoyed such plays with his sisters because his magic had always made it more enthralling. 

 

“My sisters are still happy for their older brothers to play with them in a manner where they just can not dismiss it as childish or below what a proper prince would do, good. Now...for the sweet lady of my heart.”

 

The image changed, showing a very plump princess from a foreign country, dressed in a floating ocean of white and orange silk under the heavy gold jewelry and enjoying a dance she made for her aging father and brothers who watched alongside their wives.”

 

“The old King of that country have actually sent a request for help, involving some dark arts. They have a visiting princess from a more northern country, and that beanstalk-skinny princess thinks that thanks to her golden hair and pale skin, she is way more fairer than the princess of your heart. The request is to use some dark arts to spirit her away to a isolated tower in the desert mountains with only a hand-maid as company until that some foolish prince manages to defeat his worst enemy in that country; the desert heat.”

 

Atar smirked. 

 

“I know that face of the rude princess. A distant cousin, who used to claim that I should have been kidnapped as a baby so my family would not have to deal with my magic. Perhaps this may be the key to teach her some humility.”

 

He had a journey to make, a annoying relative to course so she learnt a life-lesson, and hopefully a future wife to meet if things went well. 


End file.
